Gynecologic Screening for Men in an OBGYN Resident Community Outreach Clinic: The Transgender Care Experience.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to promote the importance of providing gynecologic screening for transgender men (TGM) who desire to keep their female organs.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In June 2015, the Women's Health Center (WHC) at Reading Hospital was approached to become a resource for transgender (TG) patients in our community. This also presented the opportunity to develop an educational program for OBGYN residents/providers in TG healthcare. From June 2015 to August 2016, we educated ourselves, established standards of care, collaborated with other services, and reached out to the community we represent. We present our experience in creating this specialty clinic as well as our first 16 months of experiential data to help other facilities meet the needs of this community.
RESULTS: The primary outcome was the establishment of a comprehensive service for TG patients in our community. From August 2016 to December 2017, a total of 27,516 patient visits were conducted in WHC, 67 (0.2%) were TG patient visits with an average age of 33 years. Of 67, 16 (23.9%) were TGM and 51 (76.1%) were transgender women (TGW) visits, representing a total of 20 new TG patients including 9 (45%) TGM and 11 (55%) TG women. A total of 5 (55.6%) of 9 TGM received vaginal/cervical cytology screening. Sexually transmitted infection screenings were performed in 14 (70%) TG patients versus 6,689 (40.7%) in a non-TG WHC population.
CONCLUSIONS: Servicing the transgender community is an important aspect of care for OBGYN providers. Our data suggest that TGM have similar gynecologic needs to the rest of our clinic population.